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Religion explained : the evolutionary origins of religious thought

"Many of us have endless questions about faith, spirituality, and the place of religious thinking in the world. But one central question - perhaps the central question - about religion has remained strangely inaccessible: Why do we have it at all? Until recently, if you'd asked this of most anthropologists, they'd have told you that the question was ill-formulated and too vague to be of scientific interest." "In fact, the intellectual tools for thinking about the problem simply didn't exist. Now, says Pascal Boyer, they do, provided by theories and research in evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology."--Jacket.Read more...

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Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002.

Contents:

What is the origin? --
What supernatural concepts are like --
The kind of mind it takes --
Why gods and spirits? --
Why do gods and spirits matter? --
Why is religion about death? --
Why rituals? --
Why doctrines, exclusion and violence? --
Why belief?

Responsibility:

Pascal Boyer.

More information:

Abstract:

Many of our questions about religion, states Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "why do people have religion?". This book provides readers with a scientific explanation for what religious feeling is really about and where it comes from.Read more...